Rights and Privileges
by B.Vain
Summary: The world's hardly a fair place, here rights get denied and whatever you can steal is your privilege. Gray had lived and survived that truth. Complacence and care, however, robbed him of the sense to know the sin it is to take anything for granted. This is a short account of rude reminders, old terrors and a man's struggle with fate.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**\- The author owes neither the rights to the Manga nor the Anime Fairy Tail nor the affiliated characters, plots, and ... stuff... There's a shitload of other things this author doesn't own but given the context hopefully the necessaries have been covered.

1\. Rude Reminders

"I think now's the time we settle the dispute, once and for all." the view of the bazaar baking in the arid afternoon of a sandy town aptly named Sandy was suddenly obscured by a blue eye that filled the scope of Gray's sniper.

"Son of a -!"Gray exclaimed and tore his face back away from the scope, pulling the trigger accidently.

_Schoop. _Tattled the gun through the silencer.

About 600 hundred yards from where Gray lay on his gut over the dune of scalding sand covered in camouflage sheets down in the bazzar the fired shot hit a vegetable vendor square in the forehead toppling him over like a bowling pin. The Vendor's buyer screamed and tore off in a random direction, heads turned, minds worked and soon there was a panicked crowd stampeding itself right into the very thing it meant to avoid- the Danger Zone .

"ASSHOLE!" Gray burst out, incensed. His sniper laid before him, resting on the stand, its muzzle pointing at the azure skies..

"Right? I mean who screams and runs off like that? Hello, causes panic. Jeez, whatever happened to civil responsibility." Lyon observed from Gray's side with studied disdain. He was watching the chaos he helped trigger with the curious apathy of an adult surveying a toddler's playhouse.

"Fuck! _You_!" Gray had jumped to his feet.

"Oh don't get bent out of shape, you couldn't have made that shot anyway. Always a shitty shot, you were." Leon said dismissively.

"I could've because I _was _a shitty shot-"

"First step's admitting it." Leon encouraged.

"- but I _improved_ because I did not spend 12 goddamn years of my life _playing the sullen avenger!_" Gray blared hotly.

"Wow." Leon said in a small voice, ashamed and hurt.

"I-I am sorry. I didn't mean it like that." Gray sighed, the ire deflating. It was below the belt and no matter what it was uncalled for.

"Yeah, me too." Leon offered sincerely, "I didn't mean to get the drop on you or anything, just didn't expect your situational awareness could deteriorate, anymore. "

Gray's brow twitched.

""Sure." Gray pulled a magnanimous smile that he did not feel, "And speaking of getting a drop on," He turned to his other side "How 'bout _a goddamn warning_ THE NEXT TIME**!" **and kicked Natsu hard on the head , the only exposed part of his body, rest of it was buried under the sand.

There was a delirious wide grin carved on Natsu's face, tongue lolled out like a mutt's and not a drop of sweat on his face. And he was utterly, dead-to-the-world unconscious. The kick from Gray's boot rolled Natsu's head away but like a bobo doll it turned right back, still grinning that frozen, loon's grin.

"God, this guy's so baked I doubt he'd notice if a dragon farted in his face." Lyon said between chuckles. "What's his deal anyway? The heat?" he raised his brows enquiringly.

"It's the heat alright, but not the way you probably think it is." Gray hunkered down beside Natsu's head and extended a hand over his forehead. A moment later ice began crystallizing under Gray's palm and encased Natsu's head completly.

"What are you...?" Leon began.

Gray heaved himself up. "So what was it that you came here for? What score is it that you wish to settle right goddamn now?!"

"Well not right now, right now but..."

"_Lyon_, I had been sitting in this infernal heat for three hours, I have more sand in my lungs than I have air, all of which- and a shitload of other stuff during the past three weeks- I suffered to track a mark that you just spooked into god knows what other shit-hole. So when I ask you a question Answer it without any wise cracking."

Both faced the other in a standoff, Gray armed with his narrow eyed Do-you-get-it-or-do-you-need-extra-persuasion look and Lyon with hard eyed, crossarmed, haughty The-hell-do-you-think-you-are-talking-to-know-your-place-fuck-face look.

"Fine." Lyon finally relented.

And then there was silence...

Silence some more...

A little more...

And some more...

"_What the fuck are you waiting for NOW?!_Gray snapped feeling the blood rushing to his head.

"What?" Lyon asked bovinely. "You said _when_ you ask a question." added with same innocence, his eyes, though, gleamed shrewdly.

"_Lyon, I swear on my mother's grave!" _Natsu's encased head had began twitching like a suspicious scorpion's tail.

"Alright, alright." There was a suppressed smirk in Lyon's words.

"What the hell is it that you wish to settle?!" thoroughly pissed, Gray hissed. "If it's about who's Ul's better apprentice-I bow out- it's you! Always been you!" Gray was breathing hard with exertion.

"A:" Lyon began calmly "that goes without saying" -Gray's eyes narrowed to deadly slits- "and B: No, that's not what I'm here for. What kind of idiot do you think I am?" Lyon scoffed ("The worst kind: a live idiot." Gray muttered.) "No, it's about something much more important." Lyon's face acquired a sagacious sort of sobriety which, despite himself, drew Gray to hear what Lyon had to spout. "Something that binds our fates together, something -"

"Hang on." Gray interrupted raising a stalling hand.

Down on the sand Natsu's head was thrashing now, aptly, like a fish in desert. His hands sprouted out of sand like spindles of a mantis and clawed viciously at the ice shell.

Gray pulled up his sniper and struck the shell with its butt end. The ice fell apart in great crooked shards and Natsu, purple faced, gasped out for oxygen. His thrashing had liberated him half from the sandy grave. Wheezing he turned murderous eyes at Gray who regarded him evenly.

"Gray, you ass-sucking-m*****f****g-son-of-a-w****- **%*-**&amp;*#*-*!# $*-*^%*&amp;**-** !#*-*#$*-** !&amp;^$-****-" Natsu's string of expletives ran a few seconds long till he was once again gasping for breath.

"Wow, you Fairy guys have quite a vocabulary." Lyon acknowledged with a sordid wonderment. "I don't think I ever even heard those last four before."

"Alright, fire freak," Gray took no note of Lyon and addressed Natsu instead "if you're done choking on your tongue it's time to make yourself useful. The mark's escaped, go track him down." he issued the succinct order.

"Escaped? How the hell did he escape?!" Natsu croaked exhuming himself from the sand. "I practically served you the shitbag on a platter!"

"Never bother with the how, just figure out the 'where'. As in, where's the mark holed up." Gray tried to direct the dialogue along a productive channel. He was not at all in he mood to strike a row with Natsu, the heat and Lyon were all he strained to deal with.

"Fuck!" raged Natsu up on his feet now. He patted off the sand from his various cracks. "Your screw up cost me my vacation, Gray! You owe me big."

"Whatever." Gray grumbled.

"And speaking of shitbags on the loose, what's this one doing here?" Natsu jerked his chin at Lyon. He must not be terribly interested in the reply, for Natsu began cataloging items in his knapsack, shook the water canteen to hear the hollow, zipped the bag close and swung it over his shoulder.

"Nothing that concerns you, now off after the mark and contact me as soon as you-"

"I did it once flawlessly I can make that twice," Natsu stated with simple confidence looking at Gray with something akin to disappointment in his eyes. He was dressed in a grey vest and voluminous pants, with feet clad in simple sandals, Dressed unlike common folk to take refuge from elements but rather to welcome it. His odd attire and wild aura pinned an inexplicable intimidation to his countenance. " but you better keep your act together when I do because Fairy Tail's reputation on the line or not, you blow it again and I walk out. Later, bitches" And with that heartfelt farewell Natsu shot off towards the town without so much as disturbing a single grain of the sand; He was a tracker in a class of his own.

"Now with that interference sorted let's-"

"Of all the people on God's green Earth I was told off by the one guy who believes that the Earth is flat as a zombie's lifeline." Gray lamented hollowly.

"Yeah, yeah, I get that, I'm sorry you've-" Lyon was getting irritated being cut off.

"Not as sorry as you'd be if I figured my reputation was tainted for some machismo bullshit."

"Wha...? It's not machismo bullshit!" Lyon sounded affronted. "It's something that binds our fates, as I said before, something we should decide upon before the tide of time retreats leaving us on shore of misery- old men filled with regret." Lyon was just a syllable away from breaking into poetry.

Despite Lyon's verbose elucidation, Gray was genuinely baffled and he articulated his sentiments hence, "What the fuck are you on about?"

"Love, my good friend, the thrill that makes life an adventure; a high that never wavers; the privilege envied by the gods, for when eternity wears off and the buzzer on the timeless goes off, love will endure; the truth ; the wonder; the-"

"You mean this is about...?" Gray was feeling a little dazed.

"Juvia, yes" Lyon confirmed solemnly.

"...Juvia..." the word escaped Gray's lips as the incredulity of the whole thing hit him like a punch in the gut, knocking out the word.

"Yes, and in the light of past events and the sinister shadows cast by the uncertain future the picture of present we are presented is not promising, not promising at all..."

Lyon's words were shorn off by the high pitched whining that lanced through Gray's ear. The lightheaded feeling was swept away as his heart blasted blood into his head like a geyser. Outwardly, Gray gave no sign of the inner turmoil wrecking him.

"...and she is clearly tormented by the dilemma that prevents her from following her heart, which desires me, shackled by her loyalty to the Guild and you." Lyon was still at it, expatiating in most excruciating detail whatever he was expatiating. "So for her sake, and I must admit ours, we must decide among ourselves who should back away and who gets rescues her from the agony of choosing. Gray you with me?"

"Right here, buddy." Gray replied with a hideously satirical genial smile.

"Gray... are you... Did you understand what I said ?" For the first time since he began speaking Lyon seemed off-balance, less than confident and assertive.

"Ten four, good buddy." Gray replied.

_Schoop. Schoop. Schoop._

"Ten goddamn four." The muzzle of Gray's sniper drooped down back into the sand from the low angle Gray raised it to shoot Lyon in the thigh. Lyon Instantly dropped like a sack of potatoes and rolled down the dune like a can of cola. And Gray watched it with quiet contentment.

The sun was a gaping hole in the azure sky, from beyond which the Light of His kingdom flooded in, and below which the sinful world singed at the Light's unblemished touch.

Burned, both in body and mind, and half-crazy with anger, Gray turned to look in the direction of the city to see the flashing sirens rolling his way. And then down back at Lyon, lying rolled up in his ridiculous blue cape and grey-silver apparel. He was already in the process of being assimilated into desert by the tireless wind trailing desert in its wake.

The temptation to let the sea of sand swallow his worries was sickly sweet but Gray abstained, more on instinct than any form of moral dilemma.

As Gray half-tumbled, half-skipped down the dune, muttering heavy expletives in hopes of diffusing his anger. he felt like a helpless peasant offering prayers of expletives to the Anger god in possession of his mind begging to reinstate the blessing of rational thought.

By the time screaming sires grew ardent Lyon was heaped on Gray's shoulder who waded through the desert. The wind had picked up impulsively, there was a sand storm on the horizon.

In the far corner of his mind a small, ancient part started as it registered the chain of circumstances something other than stupid and aggravating but as a rude reminder. Reminder of a truth he had lived and survived, But Gray was in no shape to consider and expound upon something that he felt as a small shiver down the spine, a soft echo in his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Author owes nothing, seriously. It's a damn tragedy, too.

2\. **L**ov_e_ is **N**ot **W**əI_r_d, People Are!

"Counsel of the wiser heads, Juvia-chan,"

Juvia straightened with a start in her chair, jumping back out from her consuming worries.

"When in doubt, go on a job." finished Mira, smiling at the younger girl. She was carrying a tray with a kettle and two cups."Ohayo." she greeted, setting it down on the table.

"Ohayo," returned Juvia trying not to sound too distracted. While at times she greatly appreciated the presence of mature implacable seniors, Juvia doubted though this time there would be any adage they could impart that would stave-off her gnawing worries and debilitating doubt. "How are you-?

"Gray just connected, up in Master's chambers." informed Mira off-handedly, cutting-in.

_Well that did it._

Juvia bolted out of her chair, barreled through people and furniture alike, flew up the stairs and stormed into Master's room. She didn't look exerted in the least, just a little windswept.

The blinds drawn over the glass wall in the east rose and snapped admonishingly at the sudden disturbance.

"-fuck, Gray, I wanna talk into the thingy too-!"

"Natsu, you piece of flaming shit, lay off!"

Cracking through a large, ancient transistor radio-like contraption which sat on a squat round table in the middle of the room was a struggle between Natsu and Gray over, what Juvia could only assume, taking turns to talk into the microphone. The struggle, punctuated with grunts, thuds groans and exclaimed expletives broke off momentarily when Natsu spoke, "The hell was that?" referring to, again what Juvia could simply assume, the blast of air at her arrival that must have traveled through to the other side.

And in that moment of distraction victory was decided.

_Crack!_ Followed by a victorious "Ha!", a little rolling rumbling of the microphone being picked up, and Gray finally spoke, "Sorry about that." Hearing his voice made Juvia's heart ache with longing. "Seriously though, what _was_ that noise? Erza farted or something?"

"It was nothing, carry on." Master intoned grimly. The blinds had settled down to hang eerily still, shutting the sunlight out of the room that was unnaturally dim and cool. Must be the work of spells to make any sort of eavesdropping impossible, surmised Juvia as she, much more subdued, drew the door shut after her.

"There's nothing more to add really." the crude humor had leeched out of Gray voice and he sounded almost as grave as Master. "Things are tough, we need a new strategy and we need to act on it quickly."

_Feels like ages since I last heard his voice_, Juvia thought as she took a seat next to Erza on the diwan.

"How did the mark escape exactly?" Gajeel growled; along with Master there were four other Fairy Tail mages, including her, sitting around the radio-thing. "You have been pretty vague about it."

"Fucking drop it already, you trifling bitch!" Juvia didn't have to see Gray to know the look of cornered fury his face must don. She almost smiled, worrying how easy it was to read Gray. "I said extenuating circumstances popped up, and I'm sticking to it!"

Gajeel looked like he couldn't care less what Gray was sticking to and opened his mouth to further the pointless argument when Master broke in.

"It was supposed to be a covert mission Gray." spoke Master, he didn't exactly sound disappointed but definitely not pleased. "There will be consequences of the slip up."

"Yeah, I know." there was a hint of contrition in the voice grating through the speakers.

Master sighed, massaging his brows, and spoke into the microphone, "Alright, you guys return home. I'll come up with a plan-"

"Actually," Gray interrupted, "I do have a strategy. All I need is your consent to execute it."

There was a moment of silence in which Master exchanged a look with Erza sitting across from him. "What exactly do you have in mind?" allowed Master.

"Well, actually, I won't be able to give you all the details, 'cause, you know..." Gray chuckled, and admitted "it's actually still work-in-progress."

Laxus, sitting next to Master, let loose a rolling laughter.

Erza snapped. "Work in progress?! This is not a game, you dumb idiot! You just blew up your chance once and want us to bet the _possibility_ of getting another chance on a plan-that's-not-excatly-a-plan?!"

"...That sums it up pretty well, yeah."

"This was a fucking mistake." Gajeel groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This idiot can't be trusted to button his shirt let alone bring in the greatest threat to free world."

"Whoa, hold your damn horses!" Gray's voice cracked through the speakers, sharp and indignant. "You guys are forgetting that I'm the one who had been tracking this asshole for the past nine months when there were virtually no leads to go on. Master," Gray called, "I know it's a long shot and a bit of a risky gamble, but trust me, I won't slip up this time."

In a moment of quiet Master contemplated.

"Playing Russian roullete with your life would be considered a risky gamble. This here has a lot more riding on it, Master. It's beyond risky." Erza confided, though the rest simply held their silence. Juvia was about to voice her faith in Gray's ability when Master spoke finally, his ancient voice like gravel, "We need to prepare for what will come our way now that there has been a failed attempt at the Mark's life." he sighed, in a very old-manly way, "Very well, you have your chance Gray, tell us if there is any assistance we can provide."

"Thanks, Master. And thank you too, Erza, for your vote of confidence." Gray bit out.

"Hey, I say it as I see it." Erza defended easily.

"Well, bite me."

"Gray." warned Master.

"Yeah, ok, alright. Let's do it before any of the idiots here wake up. The very first thing I need is someone to pair with Natsu, he's a great tracker but no brains."

"You're already there why do you need another one?" frowned Gajeel.

"I might need to come back home." Gray answered. Juvia's heart soared. "I spent nine months studying the target, I have a hunch where we might be able to corner him next, but I need to go through my files before that. Another thing:"

Juvia was fairly bouncing in her seat.

"Is Lucy in Magnolia?" Like a twisted knife jealousy tore into her happy little bubble, poisoning it. _Why does he need _her_?_

"She is." Master answered, while Gajeel cast a surreptitious glance towards Juvia. "She just finished a job."

"Good, tell her to rest plenty and prepare for another long journey. Also tell her we might need to engage in combat at some point."

_We?,_Juvia's fist clenched tighter in her lap.

"Very well. Is that all?" Master asked.

"About the partner I asked for Natsu. I need somebody smart, dedicated, and lethal when needed; is Juva around?" Gray asked.

"She is." Master answered looking up at the Water Mage.

"Good, tell her to set off for my location ASAP-" and Gray hadn't even finished his sentence when a flash of chaos erupted in which many things happened in rapid sucession.

There was a deafening _CRASH!_

"-The hell was that?" stopped Gray.

Everybody in Master's chambers had gone stiff with shock. The curtains over the glass wall were billowing with the wind gusting in through the big hole Juvia had made on her way out. Sunlight streamed in freely and suffused the place with it's golden warmth.

"What...?" the Master began a little dazedly.

"..the hell?!" finished Gray with a squawk following an identical, loud crash on his side.

"Juvia?!" cried Gray, abandoning the microphone to drop with whine and clatter, and thundered over to her.

The occupants of the Master's room together exchanged bewildered, and not little scared, looks.

Gajeel twisted in his chair to examine the hole Juvia had punched through. "Man, that's one crazy woman." he admitted with grudging appreciation.

* * *

"Gray-sama." Juvia offered him a dopey grin, feeling light-headed.

"Don't Gray-sama me!" snapped Gray "Where did you come from? _Have you been here the whole time?_"

Juvia shook her head, and her vision swam, "It's a new technique Juvia that allows Juvia to transport almost instantaneously to where Gray-sama is. Almost, since it's a physical technique and thus cannot surpass the speed of light. Also," she swooned where she stood, "It takes quite a lot out of her." the world tipped, her lids fluttered and her eyes rolled back into her head. But Gray was already there as the land rushed up to meet her, one hand under her head the other draped around her waist, easing down with her and pulling her close.

She was out cold. Gray smirked. "Dunderhead", he chastised fondly. And froze when the radio cracked, incredulously, in Master's voice "Is that Juvia over there?"

He wanted to say no- _Had they heard him?- _but admitted gruffly, "Yeah."And immediately the guys on the other side broke up laughing. _Yup, they did._

Red faced. Gray adjusted his arms around her so that when he stood up he was carrying her bridal style.

"How did she know where you were?" Erza was asking, taking a breather from her chortling.

"By doing something incredibly unethical and illegal, is my guess." At times it wasn't that hard to believe that Juvia had been an enforcer in a borderline Dark guild. Kinda ironic, though, given the argument they had when this job was accepted by the Guild and Gray had signed up to be the lead.

He carried Juvia off to the dingy room's only bed, and came face-to-face with another of one of his life's darkly delightful twists- Lyon, whom Gray had dumped on the bed before.

Grimacing, Gray surveyed the man's bandaged thigh. Shouldn't have shot the prick in the leg, even half dead he was a complete pain.

All the trouble Gray had gone through to get the idiot into a room with himself, the looks he tolerated from the manager when he lied that Lyon was stone-drunk and not dying of blood loss and needed a place to just sleep it off. It all seemed an awful lot of trouble he went through to just toss Lyon out of the bed in the end.

_Can't have Juvia sleeping on the floor, either, however_. Gray weighed. _Should've first conjured an ice slab to shift Lyon onto and__ make room for Juvia._ Gray considered for a short moment, but then with a shrug decided that with his hands occupied it'd be too much hassle.

"Meh." he muttered, slipped a foot under Lyon and flipped him off the bed to crash on the floor the other side in a heap of loose limbs.

"There," he deposited Juvia carefully. "Done."

After giving Juvia one last careful look Gray moved back to the radio. This version was younger, portable and overall less complicated to deal with. Gray picked up the microphone pressed the button and spoke, "I'm pretty sure Juvia's stunning entrance has outed me to the mages in the area looking for me. I haven't got long, so one last time: carry the message to Lucy, I'll be home soon as I wrap up my part here."

"Done." Master spoke through the radio's inbuilt speakers, and the connection was terminated.

There was nothing but a static in the room as Gray sat in silence, plotting out his moves and pondering his fuck-up and ways to ensure that never happened again.

"I wanted to talk into the thingy too, ya know."

Gray looked down to his left at Natsu who was sprawled on the floor but eyes wide open.

"Good, you're up." Gray turned eyes back to the transistor radio-looking contraption and began switching it off. "There's gonna be some uninvited company soon, I want you to keep them off me while I escape with the two." he motioned at the bed with his chin.

Natsu jumped to his feet, overexcited and overjoyed at the prospect of imminent fight. He looked around at the room curiously, surveying the usual points of ingress and probably deciding how to let loose hell on those who were not welcome. His eyes finally rested on dozing Juvia.

"So I'll be working with her, then?" he asked casually, swnging his hands back and forth, waitng for his dancing partners.

Gray was in the middle of stuffing the communication contraption into a bag. He looked up at Natsu and raised his brows, "You have a problem with that?"

"Nah, just curious." Natsu was getting bored. What's taking their enemies so long? "She's kinda your gal. You know, off limits. So I wanted to make sure things were cool between us."

There were so many things Gray wanted to protest against in what Natsu had said that it took him a moment to settle on what to say first. "First of all, she isn't 'my gal.'" he rolled his eyes.

This time it was Natsu's turn to raise brows.

"And, what?" Gray went on ahead, returning to task at hand, "You think you could seduce her or something if the bro-code wasn't keeping you?"

"I could try." Natsu shrugged, "I mean she _is_ super hot." he stated matter-of-factly.

Gray paused, gave Natsu a long assessing look, "Is the heat messing with your brain or something?" he asked finally, frankly, "Since when have _you_ been interested in _women_?" Gray couldn't help but treat the whole thing with wry amusement. The day was just getting weirder and weirder.

"I have always been crazy about women." again with the same matter-of-fact tone. What was _up_ with Natsu?

"It just didn't show cuz I am just a little more crazier about beating shit out of Dark Mages and being strong beyond reason and logic."

Gray couldn't hold it in anymore, he dropped everything he was doing, sat back down on his rump on the floor and chortled. He didn't care anymore if enemy combatants were closing in on them or that he had two incapacitated friends to slip out unharmed (well, relatively unharmed), because this here was _priceless_. "That so? Why Juvia, though? I always thought you and Lucy were a thing."

Apparently Natsu didn't take kindly to Gray laughing at his expense. His face contorted into a scowl and he shot back a little more fiercely than was his wont, "Why do people find it so amusing that I have interest in women?! That I have feelings like any other human being?"

This proved too much for Gray, for he fell down on the floor and began laughing so hard that he had to clutch his stomach and curl a little into himself. "Feelings...!" squealed Gray before dissolving into another fit of laughter, tears leaking from his eyes and stomach in stitches.

"Oh, fuck you!" Natsu scowled, "Fuck you, fuck Lucy and every other asshole who finds it funny!" and with that he jumped out of the window that Juvia broke during her crash landing, leaving Gray wheezing and struggling to rein in his mirth on the floor.

It was long minutes before Gray finally calmed down. He had almost passed out from lack of oxygen, and even now he had to resolutely keep his mind off the exchange a few minutes ago or risk death from asphyxiation.

Already a battle had erupted at the foot of their three storied building. Natsu was doing his job much better than anticipated because not one mage had managed to sneak up on them.

Arranging Juvia and Lyon in his arms, one carefully and other like a bag of potatoes, Gray snuck out of the room, the building and soon the block leaving none the wiser of his departure or where he was departing to.

Though one thought kept playing in his head- whatever'd come next, it was going to be a whole lot of fun.

* * *

A/N: My hope is you liked it. And feedback is deeply appreciated. Seriously, need them like oxygen.


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